Henry Knox and the Revolutionary War Trail in Western Massachusetts

During the winter of 1776, in one of the most amazing logistical feats of the Revolutionary War, Henry Knox and his teamsters transported cannons from Fort Ticonderoga through the sparsely populated Berkshires to Boston to help drive British forces from the city. This history documents Knox’s precise route—dubbed the Henry Knox Trail—and chronicles the evolution of an ordinary Indian path into a fur corridor, a settlement trail, and eventually a war road. By recounting the growth of this important but under appreciated thoroughfare, this study offers critical insight into a vital Revolutionary supply route.

Bernard A. Drew, an associate editor of The Lakeville Journal and its associated weekly newspapers in Northwest Connecticut, has written 50 books. He lives in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Bernard A. Drew
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 348
Bibliographic Info: 42 photos, 3 maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6276-6
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8965-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      ix
Introduction      1

1. English Fur Traders, 1600s      7
2. King Philip’s War, 1670s      14
3. Dutch Fur Traders, 1700s      21
4. The Great Road      27
5. Housatonic River Valley Settled, 1730s and 1740s      41
6. Seven Years War, I: Fort Saint-Frédéric (Crown Point) Campaign, 1755      61
7. Yorkers at Odds      79
8. Seven Years War, II: Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) Expedition and Canada Reduction Campaign, 1758–1760      85
9. Roads Less Traveled      112
10. Compass and Chain      125
11. Open Rebellion, 1774–1783      134
12. War of Independence, I: Henry Knox, 1775–1776      151
13. War of Independence, II: John Burgoyne, 1777      162
14. Toward War’s End, 1777–1789      191
15. Knox Trail for the Automobile Age, 1920s      207
16. Re-enactors, 1942–2008      214
17. Roads Scholars: Search for the True Knox Trail, 2010      219

Appendices
A: Nathaniel Austin’s 1764 Road Layout      269
B: Other Heritage Trails      272
C: Other Resources      277
D: Knox Commemoratives      278
Notes      279
Works Consulted      301
Index      325

“superb…a great read”—The Berkshire Eagle.